Yuuhi no Yakusoku
by Saru Kada
Summary: Songfic written to Yuuhi no Yakusoku (Promise of the Setting Sun) after watching Runaway Digimon Express too many times. Alternate ending to the movie. Rukato.


Having downloaded Runaway Digimon Express, and also having watched it 10 times in 72 hours, I've been inspired by the mucho-insane amounts of Rukato-ness.  For those that have seen it, this fic is based off the ending part, where Rika leaves to sit on the porch, and Takato follows – I swear, that would have been the _perfect_ Rukato scene, except Renamon comes in and ruins it all.  Damn Renamon!  Damn her I say! =P

Insane rants aside, I also managed to catch the name of the song used in Runaway Digimon Express – AiM's Yuuhi no Yakusoku, by skimming around Megchan's.  Now it's floating around my head incessantly.  Oh well, it's a good song.

Of course, after putting two and two together (and getting five), and figuring that my romance skills (or general writing skills, more likely) could use a lot of improvement, I decided to whip up a songfic.  Wanna guess the coupling and the song?  You get 1 try.

Disclaimer: If I owned Digimon, this would have been the ending to Runaway Digimon Express!  *continues complaining about Renamon ruining perfect Rukato moment*

Yuuhi no Yakusoku Promise of the Setting Sun 

"Hey, don't ask her to do that -"

But it was already too late.  Setting down her drink, Rika stood up, and instead of reaching for the microphone, turned and exited the room.  Kenta summed up the entire room's feelings with: "Aww, I guess not."  Of course, Rumiko, not wanting the mood of the room to deteriorate, immediately volunteered herself to the cause of filling in the gap left by her daughter's abrupt absence.  Picking up the microphone, she started singing _My Tomorrow_, and the attention of everyone in the room consequently turned to the model's excellent rendition of the song.

Everyone, that is, except Takato.
    
    _Zutto zutto issho ni iru to_
    
    _Ano yuuhi ni yakusoku shita kara_

Taking one last glance at the room, Takato quietly opened the sliding door and exited, shutting the door as softly as he possibly could behind him.  Stepping into the waning light of the setting sun, he noticed Rika sitting on the porch outside her room, back to one of the columns, staring at the setting sun, as if entranced by its strange beauty.  He considered his options for a moment, and in a moment of brazen courage, decided he would try to talk to her.  Hesitantly walking forward, he approached Rika at a slow and rather slack pace, still having many doubts and second thoughts about what he was about to do.

If Rika heard Takato approach, she paid him no heed.  Still staring into the setting sun with a rather unfocused look on her face, she wasn't startled by the fact someone sat down on the porch with her – what had slightly unnerved her was the fact that the 'someone' in question happened to be Takato.  Keeping her poker face on, however, she didn't even bother to acknowledge him, and instead kept her eyes trained on the setting sun, still deep in thought.

Staring at Rika for a while, they sat that way for a few moments, before Takato decided to risk his personal health for the sake of helping a friend.  Leaning forward, he paused slightly, then tried to capture Rika's attention: "Rika…"

Nothing.

"What's wrong?  You can tell me…"
    
    _Ima sugu aitai_
    
    _Sono kimochi o_
    
    _Onegai tsutaete ne_

There was a faint glimmer in Rika's eyes, and she seemed to twitch subconsciously, but other than that, she still avoided eye contact.

Deciding that more drastic measures would have to be taken, he steeled himself, letting out a breath, before asking, "Rika… why won't you sing for us?"

That definitely got her attention.  Turning her head to face his, Rika's eyes narrowed slightly.

"I hate singing."
    
    _Hitoribotchi no kokoro ni_
    
    _Totsuzen tobikonde kita_
    
    _Sukoshi itakatta koto_
    
    _Yasashiku tsutsunde kureta_

Takato was shocked.  She sang so… well… beautifully!  It would be such a shame if she didn't let anyone else hear her singing.  Unfortunately for Takato, his mouth started operating independently of his brain as soon as it got a vague idea of what to say, and he blurted out, "Why not?  You sing so well!  I bet they'd love to hear you sing!"

Luckily, instead of seeing a fist meet his face, Takato instead saw slight tinges of red form around Rika's cheeks.  _Wow… is she actually blushing?_

Deciding to press his luck, he continued: "And that song you were singing… back on the train… I really liked it…"

Rika, not wanting to face Takato, turned away at that moment.  However, she was unable to hide her face from Takato, and he still managed to catch the telltale luminous sparkle of tears originating in her eyes.  Of course, Rika managed to blink them away as quickly as they came, but not before Takato noticed them.
    
    _Konna ni hotto suru koto wa hajimete dakara_
    
    _Sono nukumori o sotto_
    
    _Poketto ni tsume konde_

_Aruite ikitai?___

Drawing in his breath, he thought to himself, _This is it, Takato… make or break time!  _Calling upon vast reserves of courage unseen, Takato leaned forward, hand coming up to meet her shoulder.

Destiny, of course, had other plans – most of which included humiliating Takato.  In what must have been the worst timed move of all time (for Takato's dignity and well-being at least), Rika turned her head back, having spotted out of the corner of her eye his hand coming up.  Unable to compensate for the sudden change in motion, instead of placing his hand on Rika's shoulder, Takato found himself not-so-reluctantly caressing Rika's cheeks with his index and middle fingers.  Stopped dead in his tracks at that moment, he lost all capability of thought for a second, causing his hand to linger where it should not have been a little longer than it should have been.

This, of course, caused a wave of red to rush over Takato's face – and the blush on Rika's face had somewhat grown larger, but the more prominent feature on her face was her death glare.

When his brain came back on-line, it quickly assessed the situation: not only was Takato's hand still in no-man's land, but Rika had a very disturbing look affixed to her face.  Not only that, but his proximity to Rika made him a very susceptible target.  Realizing what had to be done, Takato decided to push forward with his backup plan.

Moving his face even closer than it should have been, Takato stared Rika in the eyes, and whispered: "Please sing?  For… me?"
    
    _Zutto zutto issho ni iru to_
    
    _Ano yuuhi ni yakusoku shita kara_
    
    _Sabishii toki mo_
    
    _Hirogaru orenji o nagamete_

Death glare safely off her face, Takato was faced with another big problem: what do now that he was securely established within Rika's defensive perimeter (or so he hoped).  Staying in that position for too long would no doubt provoke her to action, and it was already too late to back off.  Seeing as the only direction to move in was forward, once again Takato's body abandoned all reason as his head decided to disobey his brain and started on a long, slow (at least it seemed that way) journey towards Rika's face.  Despite his internal screams of _NO! NO!! OH GOD NO!!!_, his lips entered the point of no return, and in short order, made contact with Rika's.

Once again his brain was called on to assess the extent of the damage.  Its first order of business, as it decided, was to close his eyes.  The second was to… well… there was no second.  Closing his eyes was more of a reflex than anything, and his brain, despite being somewhat functional, was not producing any coherent thoughts.  Instead, it repeated the phrase _ohmygodohmygodohmygod my life is so over_ rapidly.

Snapping back to the real world after about 10 seconds of inactivity, the logical processing portion of Takato's brain managed to regain control of all bodily functions, and Takato immediately whipped his head and hand back.  A fierce blush raging across his face, he, being Takato, started apologizing profusely.  His apology, consisting mainly of "Oh my god, Rika, I'm so sorry, please don't kill me" recurring over and over again, was as incoherent to Rika as were her own thoughts.
    
    _"Kitto kitto daijoubu da yo" ano yuuhi ga sasayaite kureru_

_Ima sugu aitai_

_Sono kimochi o_

_Onegai tsutaete ne_

Mentally, Rika was a mess.  A kiss was the absolute _last_ thing she had expected Takato to do, he being Takato and all.  Her eyes wide open in frozen horror (or so Takato vividly imagined), she pondered the events of the last half-minute over and over again in her head.  Eventually, a cogent debate began to form.

Takato's a boy!  You can't trust any of them!  Remember what your father did to you? 

But Takato… he saved me… from Parasimon… and he's so… 

So??  That doesn't change the fact that he's a lying, underhanded, manipulative player! 

Takato is most definitely not that kind of person! 

But he's a boy! 

Not all men are like that! 

How do you know? 

Because… Takato… he's so sincere and kind!  He'd never do anything like that! 

You don't know what he'll turn into when he grows up!  What if he does the same thing father did?

Bogged down by the two competing trains of thought, Rika was stranded helplessly as Takato continued to apologize to the rather unresponsive Rika.
    
    _Anata ga ichiban suki na_
    
    _Saikou no egao de_
    
    _Mukaerareru you ni_
    
    _Watashi mo mainichi ganbatte ikitai?_

Inside, she knew her doubtful side was right… but… she had come to trust Renamon, didn't she?  That had been a big step for her, coming to accept somebody as so close a friend.  Could she, then, give the gogglehead a chance?  A chance to make his way into her heart, as her father had?

Takato stopped midway through his endless raving about how apologetic he was to notice a lone tear sliding down Rika's cheek.  Her eyes were closed now, lips pursed shut, and she started sniffling, desperately (and rather vainly) attempting to hold back the wave, and instead she burst into tears completely.  Sobbing, and seeking comfort, she flung her arms around Takato, who happened to be at the right place at the right time (or the wrong place at the wrong time, some might argue).  As a reflex, Takato's hands came around too.  Of course, by that time…

Takato had gone comatose.

It took a while for Rika's muffled crying to subside and for Takato to snap out of his trance-like dream state.  Looking down, clutching Rika rather loosely as compared to the death hug she had around him, he could only stare and wait for himself to wake up in his pajamas, in bed, victim of another enjoyable dream.

Instead, Rika, crying fit now through, slowly raised her head to look Takato in the eyes.
    
    _Zutto zutoo issho ni iru to Ano yuuhi ni yakusoku shita kara_
    
    _Kujikesou demo Kirei na orenji o dakishime_

"Gogglehead?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

 In a half-audible whisper, more a plea than a request, Rika asked of Takato, "Promise me that you'll… you'll never leave me?"

Taken aback by her strange question, he assured her as quickly as he could, "Don't worry Rika… I promise I'll never leave you…"

Burying her face into his warm chest again, Rika considered what she had done.  On one hand, she had opened up again, had allowed herself to get close to someone… but what if she got hurt?  Again?

Spending a bit more time in Takato's embrace answered that question for her.  Though there would be many bumps on the road concerning her relationship with Takato, there would doubtless also be many joyous occasions in her future.  Right now, for instance, in his arms, she felt completely at peace.

With that, she had decided.  She would give love another chance… and maybe… just maybe… this time things would end up differently.

Disengaging from her comfortable position rather reluctantly, she quickly wiped the last vestiges of whatever tears she had left away.  Looking to the fading crimson horizon once more, she thought of the song she had been taught to sing so many years ago.  _The promise we made to the setting sun…_

Now with a genuine smile, Rika stood up, feeling complete again, for the first time in years.  Reaching down, she lent Takato a hand, which he took gratefully.  Pulling him up, Rika gently slipped her hand into his.

"C'mon gogglehead," she stated, a smirk dancing at the edges of her lips, "let's get this over with."

Leading the way, Rika reentered the room amidst applause, as Rumiko had just finished singing _My Tomorrow_ and was currently taking gratuitous mock-curtseys.

Heading to the front of the room, Rika held out her arm.  Startled for a moment, Rumiko stared at Rika for a second, before understanding her intentions and handing the microphone to her.

Accepting the microphone, Rika turned to face her friends, and with a soft smile, declared: "This song's for Takato."  Takato of course turned an unnatural red colour as the catcalling and wolf whistling (mostly from Kazu) started.  Rika's smile only grew wider as Takato developed several interesting shades of crimson.  Fortunately for Takato's pride, she decided enough was enough after a few moments, and started to sing.
    
    _"Kitto kitto daijoubu da yo" Ano yuuhi ga oshiete kureta no_

_Shinjite ireba Sono kimochi wa Kanarazu todokutte_

-----

At the end of the day, when the celebrations had ended and most of the people had gone home, Takato stood alone on the porch, ready to go but not before making a final farewell to Rika.  Renamon had been ordered to occupy Guilmon by Rika and was doing an excellent job of playing hide and seek, as her ability to fade in and out of the plane of reality was more than enough to keep Guilmon searching.

Stepping outside, Rika smiled as she approached Takato.  Shutting the door behind her to make sure her mother and grandmother wouldn't see, she noticed Takato seemed to be looking down at his shoes a bit too much.  "What's wrong?" she inquired, and not completely without mirth.

Takato looked up, blushing ever so slightly.  "Well – er… I was just wondering… if… you're available tomorrow… for… say… some ice cream?"

Keeping the same expression on her face, she replied, "That would be nice."

Despite his best efforts to keep it hidden a grin graced Takato's face.  "Really?"  Rika simply nodded in reply.

"So… I guess I'll see you tomorrow then?  At… 11?"  Once more Rika nodded.

"Then… erm… good night?"

"Good night, Takato" was Rika's reply, but as she said that she leaned forward and gave Takato a quick kiss, brushing her lips with his and maintaining contact for only the slightest moment.  Still, that was enough to make turn bright red and stutter.

Smirking, she opened the door.  "See you tomorrow, Takato."  Reentering her house, she drew it shut behind her.

As Takato stood there on the porch, pondering the events of the day, he turned, bewildered, and started to leave, pausing only to call Guilmon over, who was still searching for a Renamon who had long abandoned the game in favour of her tamer.

Walking down the street back towards his family bakery, Takato could only train his gaze upwards towards the darkening sky, to wonder exactly what had prompted Rika's behavior that day.

Whatever it was, however, Takato was thankful for it:

_There IS a god, after all._
    
    _Zutto zutto issho ni iru to_
    
    _Ano yuuhi ni yakusoku shita kara_
    
    _Tooku ni itemo_
    
    _Onaji orenji o kanjite_
    
    _"Kitto kitto daijoubu da yo"_
    
    _Ano yuuhi wa tsunagatteru kara_
    
    _Mou nakanai yo_
    
    _Futari no ai kokoro o terashiteru_
    
    _Futari no ai kokoro o terashiteru…_

-----

Rants and Raves 

ARGH!  I hate my style of writing!  I think I jump around too much… I don't spend enough time on details!  Not to mention how repetitive I get sometimes, and how I rush everything!  Bleah!

On the plus side, this is helping me… I think.

At any rate, this was horribly written… Rika was soooo out of character, and… umm… yeah, that's basically my main complaint.  Oh, right, also, I think the spacing for the song portions are weird.  Hey, what do you expect out of something finished at 4:30 AM?

I should probably go to sleep now.  Links to Yuuhi no Yakusoku lyrics and the MP3 download, if interested, are below:

Lyrics: http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/digimon/yuuhinoyakusoku.htm

Download: http://www.angelfire.com/ny4/animesekai/digimp3.html

I'm still working on To Redeem Oneself… that fic promises to be very long.  I'm about two-thirds through Chapter One.  Expect to see it by next weekend!  (I hope.)

Suggestions?  Comments?  Leave a review or drop a line at sarukada@hotmail.com!


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